Meryl Davis and Charlie White, who train at the Arctic Edge Arena in Canton, are in first place after the short dance. / Ivan Sekretarev/Associated Press

Detroit Free Press Columnist

Tessa Virtue and Scott Moir of Canada, who also train in Canton, are in second. They are coached by Marina Zoueva. / Dave Sandford/Getty Images

More

ADVERTISEMENT

LONDON, Ontario -- Imagine Jim Leyland managing both the Detroit Tigers and the Toronto Blue Jays at the same time.

Now, imagine holding a practice every day at the same place. For years. Both teams watching each other. Every single day.

The two teams play nice. They are cordial. But you know, deep down, they want to beat each other's brains out.

Now, put them in the World Series and watch them play.

(Quick note: I know the Tigers and Blue Jays wouldn't meet in the World Series, but this is just an example for general readers, so play along.)

Oh, one more thing. Hold the entire thing in Canada.

That's what we have here in the ice dancing competition at the World Figure Skating Championships.

Two teams from different countries. One coach. One practice facility. And it seems as if all of Canada is watching.

But the U.S. team has a huge lead, heading into the free dance this afternoon. Meryl Davis and Charlie White, who train at the Arctic Edge Arena in Canton, have a 3.25 point lead over Canadian's Scott Moir and Tessa Virtue, who also train in Canton.

Both teams are coached by Marina Zoueva.

Which sets up some interesting situations.

Late Thursday night, Zoueva sat on a chair in a news conference, watching both her teams sit side by side at the front of the room. One of her teams was sky-high. The other one looked deflated, as if it had let down every man, woman and moose in Canada.

"It was real high up and kind of down," she said. "Up and down."

Davis and White have a huge lead for two reasons.

First, they skated brilliantly in the short program, putting together a world-record score of 77.12. "It was one of those dream skates," White said.

Secondly, Moir and Virtue botched a twizzle sequence.

It sounds like something you put in a mixed drink. But a twizzle is, technically, a multirotational one-foot turn. And it's something Virtue has done about a zillion times in her career.

"Sometimes that happens with the set of twizzles," she said. "It wasn't my best. I've been training those really well. It was a fluke."

Zoueva had an intriguing theory of what went wrong.

She said the problem might have been Virtue's new dress.

"I think it's because of the skirt," Zoueva said. "Seriously. It's a new dress. It's a really big skirt."

Zoueva said she saw it in a practice: "I think maybe that's part of problem."

Which sounds like such an old, overused cliché to me. You know how many times I've heard a coach say the problem was a long skirt? OK, never.

I am entering a new, strange territory here.

Two years ago, Davis and White won the World Championship, but they have grown since then.

"I think we feel different than we did two years ago in a good way," White said. "I think our confidence is as high as it's ever been."

They have impressed just about everybody -- even the Canadian fans gave them a warm reception.

"We are able to come to Worlds relaxed," White said. "Of course, we still have free dance and need to execute it. But we are doing our job. A certain maturity comes with the experiences we've had."

Virtue and Moir are having a different experience. Both of them were born in London and they are competing under a bright spotlight. Their photos are everywhere around London.

The London Free Press, not to be confused with your Freep, splashed a huge picture of Moir and Virtue on its front page Friday with a headline "Not over yet."

They were also on the front page of Toronto's Globe and Mail, and it seems as if every newscast mentions them.

In short, this World Championship is huge news in Canada. And the pressure must be enormous, even though they have downplayed it.

"We are further behind than we'd like to be," Virtue said. "I don't think it changes our job (today). We confident in our program. We have nothing to lose."

Moir agreed, acknowledging that the Americans have a huge lead. "That's a pretty large gap," he said.

And then it seemed as if he were about to rip the judges, but caught himself. "It's pretty cushy -- I think the, ooh, I almost gave you a juicy one there," he said.

And then he regrouped and went into skater speak.

"I don't think you can be too disappointed with the way we have been supported this week," he said. "We put the same pressure on ourselves, whether this Worlds was in London or Tokyo or France."

White and Davis should feel confident today for a different reason. They have not lost to Moir and Virtue this season.